770 Recently published Ornitholof/ical Works. [Ibis, 



in the lands where Gilbert collected for Gould, having now 

 come into the possession of the National Museum at 

 Melbourne, the author of tiiis paper — for long an authority 

 on Australian Ornithology — takes the oppoitunity to insti- 

 tute a comparison with the species obtained by Gilbert and 

 to comment on their nomenclature. 



That collector's head-quarters were at the present Port 

 Essington (then styled Victoria), whereas M'^'Leiman had 

 his main camp eighty miles away at King River ; but the 

 character of the Avhole district is so uniform that it may all 

 be considered as one collectitig-ground, and is in fact almost 

 precisely similar to that round Napier and Broome Bay in 

 West Australia. It is therefore no matter for astonishment 

 that some species or subspecies are identical in the two 

 areas, while we are impressed with the necessity of taking 

 more than usual care in dift'ercntiating forms on the grounds 

 of slight variation in tlic colour. 



The two explorers observed nearly the same birds, though 

 M'^Lennaii added Plilutis albilineatus to the Australian list; 

 and Mr. Campbell lightly considers this to be a fitting time 

 to come to a primary agreement as to the nomenclature 

 pending further expeditions and further discoveries. 



He therefore discusses each bird separately, and in par- 

 ticular the races it has been proposed by Mr. Mathews and 

 others to differentiate. We cannot here give in detail the 

 cases where the two writers are in agreement and where they 

 are not; but must satisfy ourselves with commending the 

 whole article to the attention of our readers, in view of 

 the lead that it gives to the proper determination of many 

 points of importance witii regard to a distant and partially 

 worked country. 



Two points remain to be noticed — first, that in some 

 eight or more cases the Gouldian-Gilbert type-locality was 

 not Port Essington, but " North-west Coast of Australia " ; 

 secondly, that Mr. Campbell once more emphasizes the 

 importance of maintaining GoukPs names if scientifically 

 correct. This no doubt is much to be desired, and none 

 pf them should be thrown aside without most careful 



